Currently there is a gap in the delivery of information between providers of print content (e.g., newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals) and providers of online content (e.g., MSN, Yahoo!, and AOL). Most providers of print content, in addition to delivering their content in the traditional manner, have begun to also use the Internet to deliver their content. The Internet allows them to utilize electronic delivery methods, primarily websites, newsletters, emails, and electronic alerts. However, such current electronic versions of the printed content are often repurposed versions of the original printed content.
The currently-available electronic versions have not effectively combined the customization power of the Internet, the effectiveness of electronic delivery, and the reading convenience of the print medium into one single media. As a result, most users still use the online medium simply to scan content or read short stories and the print medium to read content.
One example of print content made available online is a website hosted by a newspaper, such as www.sun-sentinel.com, which is an online version of the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel newspaper. Such online versions of newspapers simply present the print media in an electronically friendly and easily accessible medium. However, the content is mostly the same for each user and is simply a reconstituted version of the content of the printed version of the newspaper. The content may be optimized for navigation, but it is not optimized for printing and reading.
Another example of news content available is the New York Times Digest. The New York Times Digest summarizes the main news of the New York Times newspaper and prints it on letter-sized paper generally for fax delivery. However, the New York Times Digest is not customized and the same edition is provided to all of its readers.
Additionally, while there have been significant advances in the delivery of advertising online, little has been done in the area of advertising on printed media. As a result, there remains a significant inefficiency inherent to the media. Readers commonly find that only a small portion of content in a publication is of interest to them. Accordingly, an advertiser suffers dispersion by advertising to a large audience while only a select few are actually of interest to the advertiser.